In its eighth edition, the PREVIEW BERLIN ART FAIR will be expanding its dynamic profile: In Hangar2 of Berlin's former Tempelhof Airport, established galleries will now show their promising artistic positions alongside international newcomers. For the first time ever, there will also be solo walls, with a focus continuing to be placed on emerging artists. This survey allows the PREVIEW BERLIN to reflect what makes the Berlin art landscape so unique from an international perspective, allowing the latest trends to be visualised.

This year, the PREVIEW BERLIN will be held for the first time within the framework of the newly launched BERLIN ART WEEK (11.-16.9.2012), uniting under one umbrella the exhibition format abc – art berlin contemporary as well as the most important institutions of contemporary art in Berlin (National Gallery, Society of Friends of the National Gallery, KW, Berlinische Galerie, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein [n.b.k.], Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst [NGBK] e.V., c/o Berlin, Haus der Kulturen der Welt and Akademie der Künste). With the BERLIN ART WEEK, participants' profiles will be sharpened, synergies created and energies pooled to strengthen confidence in Berlin as an art location.

With the FOCUS ACADEMY, the PREVIEW BERLIN has been turning to art universities since 2009 in a new format. In 2012, the graduates of eight German art academies will participate. The intention is to offer these artists the opportunity to show their work to a large art community at the moment of transition from university studies to artistic independence, allowing them to gain initial experience on the art market. In addition to the Bauhaus University Weimar, the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design Kiel and the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg, all of which were already represented at the art fair last year, Giebichenstein Castle Halle, the Art University Kassel, the Berlin University of the Arts, the HfG Offenbach and the Berlin Weissensee School of Art will participate in the 2012 FOCUS ACADEMY.

In addition, the PREVIEW VIDEO SCREENING offers selected artists the opportunity to present their video works to an urban audience at the Sony Center Berlin.

Prospect

The in 2005 established art fair, has been held since 2007 in the former Berlin Tempelhof Airport, where the historical hangars are characterised by a generously-sized room layout. For the fifth edition in 2009, the fair moved into the singular main hall of Tempelhof Airport. Under the title LESS REGRESS / MORE CONGRESS, it developed a progressive art fair concept in the form of a curated exhibition without a classic fair construction, which was enthusiastically taken up by the media and the general public. Some 10,000 visitors over the course of three days made the PREVIEW BERLIN the “hub of the Berlin’s autumn fair season“(Der Tagesspiegel).

In 2010, the PREVIEW BERLIN once again presented an ambitious stand concept that reflected the wide-ranging experiences of the previous years: a combination of large-scale white cube exhibition booths and open spaces for expansive installations and performative works. A central lounge provided a meeting place for the over 12.000 visitors while also serving as an event venue for the multifaceted supporting programme, which consisted of tours, dinners, receptions and discussions. Another new programme feature was the focus on galleries and art spaces from Eastern Europe. The auspicious result: a flood of galleries from these nations applied for inclusion in 2011.

Joint projects are realised annually in the context of collaboration with Swab in Barcelona. In 2011, for example, Hanno Millesi and Ralf Schmitt conducted a performative reading on the Plaça de Catalunya. A cooperative project between Fresh Paint, Tel Aviv and PREVIEW BERLIN was also inaugurated in 2011, including a trip to Berlin for Israeli curators and collectors, a panel discussion with the respective directors of the partner fairs and the VIDEO ART BOX by Fresh Paint in the art fair’s central exhibition area in Hangar2. The Tel Aviv art fair presented the German premieres of video works by Israeli artists here.

With FOCUS ACADEMY, the PREVIEW BERLIN has addressed art universities and their graduates since 2009 in a new format. The objective is to establish this format as a separate event from 2013 onwards within the framework of the BERLIN ART WEEK.